Finding the right fitness tracker is no sweat with our dead-simple guide

...

10/18 02:04

The fitness wrist band remains very popular, despite the growing attraction of smartwatches, which can perform many of the same functions, with added convenience and notifications. The reason fitness bands aren’t going anywhere is they’re often well-priced, lighter, more compact, and more focused as a product than even the most basic smartwatch.

If you’re looking for a wrist band to help motivated you get more exercise, track your calories, or even keep a log of your sleep patterns, then you’ll probably be surprised by the amount of choice out there. We’ve collected seven of our favorite fitness tracking wearables, to help make the buying process a little easier.

Why you should buy this: You want a stellar fitness band with GPS, a display, storage for music, and some smartwatch features

Who’s it for: Any Android user who’s teetering on the edge between a fitness band and smartwatch

How much will it cost: $180

Why we picked the Samsung Gear Fit 2

Samsung’s Gear Fit 2 is the best fitness tracker we’ve used. Its subtle design, smartwatch-like features, and ability to stream music during your workouts make it stand out from the ever-increasing mob of cheap, crappy, ugly fitness trackers. The auto-workout tracking is awesome and it really works, so you can exercise naturally without having to press a button every time you go out for a run. It offers built-in GPS and 4GB of music storage, so you can leave your phone at home when you hit the gym.

The 1.5-inch curved AMOLED screen is absolutely stunning and you can view all your metrics on it in full color at any time. You can even view a map of your route, thanks to its built-in GPS. It’s customizable with fun watch faces and you can download a bunch of handy apps from the Gear app store, including Spotify, which allows you to stream music from the Gear Fit 2 during workouts. The Fit 2 recognizes and automatically tracks a number of activities and everything syncs with the S Health app, which gives you a super detailed view of your progress on your phone.

Although its main purpose is fitness tracking, the Gear Fit 2 can also perform many smartwatch functions, including notifications, the ability to reply to messages, and download apps. The extra smarts aren’t thrown in your face; they are subtle and helpful. This is the device for anyone who wants a fitness tracker, but is smartwatch-curious. The battery lasts about 3 days, though GPS will eat into that estimate.

For $180 it is a great deal. The Gear Fit 2 is significantly cheaper than any smartwatch you can buy, and it’s even cheaper than some Fitbits, despite having more features. If you’re looking for a smart fitness tracker with heart rate, GPS, and notifications, the Gear Fit 2 is for you. The only bad news? You have to have an Android phone; it doesn’t work with iOS.

RELATED BY

A “Man Cave” is a room or other part of a home regarded as a refuge for the man or men of a household.Hockey games have begun, and if you’re the go-to-guy during the season, you need to ensure your man cave is equipped with the best man-tech you can find.

From everything we have learned from several sources, plus some direct feedback from Verizon, we think we’ve got the details pretty dialed in on what this new Verizon Unlimited plan is all about.This isn’t a replacement plan for you; it’s just a new data plan called Verizon Unlimited.

Samar Sharma, holder of 75 patents and innovator and architect at Cisco Systems, stops by the InformationWeek News Desk at Interop ITX to talk about the Cisco products that were nominated for and won Best of Interop Awards.Cisco Systems was nominated for six Best of Interop Awards this year took home three awards.

The new modems in Apple's iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus promise faster LTE speeds than we saw on the iPhone 6s series.All Apple will say about the modems in the iPhone 7 are that they support "450Mbps LTE.